Update: Janet Oleszek Speaks About Her Run for Supervisor

Update: Friday 5:11 p.m.

What inspired Janet Oleszek to run for Braddock District Supervisor?

"My concern that we have a winning campaign in Braddock that has the veritas and experience that can defeat the incument," Oleszek said today. Oleszek said that state Senator Chap Petersen encouraged her to run.

Oleszek emphasized her experience in elections and past good record in the Braddock District precincts.

"I served as a school board member at large and won that race with the highest number of votes the Democrats had ever done before," Oleszek said. "I have to say I still hold the record in Braddock district for school board votes. [I also ran] a pretty high profile race against my state senator [Ken Cuccinelli].  I came within a whisker of defeating him."

Oleszek said she has not planned a kick-off or any other events yet, as she still needs to work on the details of her new campaign.

"I don’t take light challenges," Oleszek said. "I ran at large because it’s a large challenge and because it’s compelling to me to have a large perspective and representation. I ran against [Cuccinelli] for the state senate not because it was easy but because it needed to be done. I believe this needs to be done as well."

Oleszek dismissed allegations that Chris Wade, another candidate running for the Democratic nomination for the Braddock District seat, is actually a Republican.

"Chris Wade sits on my BraddockDemocratic committee," Oleszek said. "He is a Democrat."

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Published Thursday, June 9 at 11:33 p.m.

Former At-Large FCPS School Board member Janet Oleszek has officially announced her run for the Braddock District Supervisor seat.

Political blog Not Larry Sabato, run by Ben Tribbett, announced her run Thursday night, reporting that State Senator Chap Petersen has already endorsed her for the Democratic nomination. Her entry into the race can be seen as a demonstration of some of the questions raised about candidate Chris Wade, .

Oleszek was known for her tight race against then State Senator Ken Cuccinelli for the 37th district Senate seat in 2007. The margin of victory in the race came down to less than 100 votes out of over 30,000 cast.

The winner of the Democratic primary will go on to face current Supervisor John Cook in November.